As you reach the Rate Thoughts step, you might notice that thoughts are offered one at a time and not in a list that can be easily skimmed and rated based on personal interest or preference.

We get that it’s a bit of a mindset shift, but sticking to the thoughts we “like” or feel inclined to rate ends up leaving a lot of gaps for leaders to try and make sense of. “Why aren’t these thoughts being rated? Are they unimportant to people? Do people disagree with them? Are people just not seeing them?”

It’s important to remember that votes aren’t being cast for America’s Next Top Thought, and that we’re not picking a “winner”. It’s about giving the exchange leader insight into what matters to the group, and doing our best to make sure everyone feels respected and heard. Our software is designed so that through a unique (but not quite random) ordering of thoughts, all thoughts get the same number of views regardless of a thought's “popularity”.

This approach also helps to mitigate some of those interesting little traits that we as humans are predisposed to, such as in-group bias, groupthink, and herding. As an added bonus, it makes tampering (such as ballot stuffing from special interest groups) far more difficult than in a traditional survey, since there’s no easy way for anyone to predict the order in which they’ll be seeing thoughts.

Instead, the wisdom of crowds helps the most relatable and relevant thoughts rise to the top naturally, which leadership teams can then take forward as actionable feedback.